How to sell furniture to a private person. Sellers Tips

02.11.2016

"This article was written by Alexander Seleznev, General Director of the Content Farm company, http://content-farm.ru/, whose knowledge and experience I consider useful for furniture companies."
Alexandrov S. A., founder of MMCC

My team is engaged in turnkey Internet promotion, and it so happened that I have several furniture makers among the customers this year. Therefore, especially for the MMCC website, I will tell you 2 real cases of online advertising for them. According to the data from this article, furniture business owners will be able, albeit roughly, to estimate how much they will need to spend and how much they can get when selling goods via the Internet.

So, 2 Customers for whom we did almost the same work, but whose results are radically different. There were extensive initial discussions with both customers, during which they assessed the situation and decided how best for them to advance on the Internet. But both customers eventually asked to make landings and launch contextual advertising. They say "we will earn money on this, and then we will think further."

Both customers have kitchens. Both customers have very small companies, literally a dozen people.

One customer is in Belarus, the other is in the Urals. Further I will call them Belorus and Uralets. About half a million people live in the region to which Belarus planned to sell. The Urals, too.

Their consumer segments were slightly different. Belarus has an average minus. The Urals has an average plus. This was due to the fact that Uralets in the old, prosperous times, acquired high-quality equipment. In particular, for example, equipment for photo printing. As well as CNC machines with a cutting accuracy of 0.1 mm.

Contextual advertising and landing - what is their function when selling furniture via the Internet

First, just in case, I'll tell you - what is contextual advertising, and what are landing pages.

Selling online, by its very nature, is no different from selling on the ground. To sell something, you only need 3 things:
A product, that is, something for which people will agree to give you their money.
The flow of passers-by. Of which some need your product.
A place to exchange a product for money. For example, a store. Because if your product is in stock and no one knows about it, then no one will buy it.

Next, you need a stream of passers-by. Contextual advertising does just that. Like promoters who invite people to visit your store during promotions. Contextual advertising invites those Internet passers-by who are interested in furniture to look at you. At the same time, you pay only for those who agreed and came to you. For those who are not interested and passed by, you do not pay.

Next, you need a "shop". Where your visitor can get to know your product. On the Internet, this role is played either by your website or landing page. A landing page is a micro-site consisting of only one page, which, ideally, offers only one product. For example, only kitchens.

And now attention! A landing page is not a store on the Internet, it is only your showcase behind glass on the Internet. This is a closed showroom behind glass, on the doors of which it is written “do not come close, do not touch anything with your hands!”

Because of the glass, people cannot feel the upholstery of your sofas, they cannot sit on them, they cannot do anything, they can only look from afar.

Would you yourself lay out tens of thousands of rubles for a product that you can only look at from afar, behind the glass?
So visitors to your landing page will not.

All a landing page can do is connect a visitor to your landing page with your account manager. The most practical thing is that when a landing visitor leaves his phone, this phone gets into your CRM, and then the manager calls this person as soon as possible, agrees with him or for a measurement, or for this person to come to your salon live.

Yes, of course, any and all methods are used on the landing page to “anchor” the visitor. To interest him to take the next step, and not turn around and leave.
But still, landing pages do a good job only in order to make contact with the visitor.

Remember: the function of your landing page is not to sell, but to turn visitors into leads. Your manager will sell further.

Two cases of selling furniture through contextual advertising - two different results

Now let's get back to our Belarusians and Urals. Here are the actual numbers (rounded but close to the truth):

Average number of landing page visitors (per week)
Average consumption per week, rub.
Average cost of a landing page visitor, rub.
Average number of leads (per week). That is, visitors to the landing page, who expressed their interest by their actions, left their phone number to be called back.
Average cost of a lead, rub.
Average number of leads (per week). That is, those with whom it was possible to successfully contact, and with whom the conversation reached the calculation of the cost of the kitchen.
Average cost of a potential customer, rub.
Average number of sales (per week). That is, concluded contracts and received prepayments.
The total average cost of the buyer, rub.		Infinity

Results:

The Belarusian is completely satisfied with the results. Sometimes he asks to stop advertising for a while, because production cannot cope with him. As I said, this is a very small business. In addition, both Belorus and Uralets launched online sales in ADDITION to the regular sales they already had.

Ural received a big loss.
Why there is such a difference, I will tell a little later. First, I’ll tell you why furniture businesses, according to my observations, are starting to actively go to the Internet.

You're losing half your customers if you don't promote online.

Of course, it is necessary to go to the Internet, and for a long time.

That is, it can be assumed that only those furniture makers who are falling are contacting me. For those who are doing so well, Internet promotion services are not needed.

However, I argue that over the past few years, ALL furniture makers who do not advance on the Internet have lost half of their customers.

That is, people are already so accustomed to the Internet that almost half of them first look for furniture on the Internet, and only then go to where they looked after something.
If you are not found on the Internet, then half of your potential customers will not even think to look at you! Did you understand?

If you are not visible on the Internet, then you can only count on the remaining 43 percent. And taking into account the fact that the furniture market has lived quite comfortably for many years, and, probably, for this reason, most furniture makers prefer to work in the old fashioned way, almost all of your competitors claim the same 43% of the market.

Those few furniture makers who successfully work on the Internet, by the way, also participate in the section of these 43%. Apart from the fact that they still get the other 40% of the market.
Hence the conclusion: there are companies in the furniture market that are doing well.

This situation reminds me of a story about a frog that was placed in cold water and slowly warmed up. They heated up little by little, and the frog did not feel discomfort. Until it's welded.

Worse, there is no gradual, but non-stop deterioration of the market

I myself went through such ups and downs of the market when I was closely involved in my offline business. Namely trade in computers. At my peak, I had 4 stores in 3 cities. The market was changing, and you had to act very energetically just to stay afloat.

Now I see the same thing in your furniture market. Only changes are slower. If the situation develops in the same way as in previous years, then without the Internet, your sales will continue to shrink by 10 percent a year. Even without a crisis.

“People don’t buy furniture online!”

You can object to me: “People don’t buy furniture on the Internet!”
And you will be right.

In order for a person to spend serious money, for example, on the same kitchen, he needs to personally look at the colors, knock on the countertop, scratch it with his finger, he needs someone to help him cope with doubts ...
In the same study "Total sales - 2016" to the question “What are the ways you most often use to buy goods?”, for the category "Furniture and household goods", 26% answered - the Internet, and 64% answered - the store.

It seems that for a long time furniture will be bought mainly in stores. But because of the Internet, people have now begun to decide in a different way which stores to go to and which ones not to.
And it will only intensify. “In 2016, in Russia, 73% of citizens aged 18 and over use the Internet, of which 47% of those surveyed do it daily.”

Your use of Internet promotion will not change the market situation, of course.

You will have more customers, because you will get access to those customers that you previously lost, to those who, using the Internet, decide “where to go to take an interest in furniture”.

Why is there such a difference in the results of cases, can contextual advertising be considered a “magic pill” and the formula for a successful sales chain on the Internet

Let's now return to our Belarusians and Urals.

Why is there such a horrendous difference in results? For one - periodically production does not cope, and for the other - only expenses, without sales.

If you look again at the table at the beginning of this article, you will see that the number of visitors to landing pages and the cost of a visitor are almost the same.

Yes, of course there are differences. Contextual advertising is arranged according to the auction principle. Yandex and Google give preference to those who pay more. Therefore, it is impossible to say in advance what the cost will be in one city or another.
One can only be sure that in large cities there is more competition, and therefore advertisers have to charge higher prices.
And you can be sure that in rich regions the cost will also be higher. Because advertisers are more likely to charge higher prices for their ads.

But anyway, contextual advertising is the most understandable for business, including for furniture makers. I paid money - visitors quickly came - some of them became buyers. Therefore, in Russia, according to various estimates, the share of contextual advertising is up to 80% of the money spent by businesses on the Internet.

All the furniture makers I've talked to basically want a "magic pill". I paid and all was well. I even put it in the title of the article.
Above, I gave an analogy with promoters. Contextual advertising - like these promoters. She invites passers-by to turn to you. But in reality, you are not selling at the expense of promoters. You do different types of visitor acquisition, you do managers, you do premises, you do product lines…

You should not consider contextual advertising as a “magic pill” that will solve all your problems.
The golden years, when there was a peak in the economic efficiency of contextual advertising, have already passed. It was SEVERAL TIMES cheaper, and there was little competition. Now contextual advertising is no longer suitable for every product and not for every city.
For which cases contextual advertising is suitable, and for which it is not - I will summarize at the end of this article.

The furniture business needs to go online. Almost half of your customers are already there. You can sell furniture online. And for the furniture business in general, contextual advertising works.

BUT!
Only if you do not treat it like a magic pill, but build a high-quality sales chain from start to finish. That is, contextual advertising + landing + good work of sellers.

After all, in fact, the cost of a landing visitor is not even important. That is, how much you spent directly on advertising - how much you paid for visitors to look at you.
BUYER COST IS IMPORTANT.
If you get 20 thousand profits from the sale of the kitchen, then spend 1200 rubles. to get these 20 thousand, an acceptable price.

Go back to the table at the beginning of this article. You will see that the cost of a lead for Belorus and Ural is comparable. Let me remind you: a lead is a visitor who is ready to communicate with you further.

The catastrophic difference between Belorus and Ural began after a potential client left his contact.
At Belorus, out of 17 such people per week, managers successfully processed 14. That is, 82%.
And for Uralets, out of 14 leads, only 3 were successfully processed. That is, 21%.
By “successfully processed” I mean brought the client to the calculation of the cost of the kitchen.

The Belarusian has sales, the Urals has no sales.

We did something else for Belarus.
Namely:
- Together with Belorus, we worked with him on promotions that were published on the landing page to increase attractiveness for customers.
- We worked for several months, finalizing both contextual advertising and the landing itself. That is why I give weekly numbers in this article. One day is not enough to improve something. A month is too long. But moving weekly is optimal.
- Worked on communication between managers and clients. We listened to dozens of recordings of managers' conversations. And obvious errors were eliminated. And, together with Belorus, we managed to get his managers to call the client within a few minutes. While the client is still warm.

Therefore, the most important advice of this article.

If you are thinking about selling furniture over the Internet, start with the main thing: training your managers.

Through contextual advertising, you can sell only those goods, the profit from the sale of which per unit is from 3000 rubles. and higher. And only in cities with a population of over 100 thousand inhabitants. In small towns, contextual advertising may no longer work. There will be too few visitors, and the associated costs of creating, setting up and managing contextual advertising will eat up all the profits. In this case, it will help you only if you personally become a specialist in contextual advertising, you yourself will personally deal with it and landing pages, and therefore you will not have associated costs.

If you want contextual advertising, prepare a budget not only for the advertising itself, but also for people who will bring contextual advertising, landing and the work of managers to standard. For a region with a population of 1 million people, the total costs will be in the region of 80-100 thousand rubles. per month. Half - for the advertising budget, the second half - for the entire sales chain to work.
With 20,000 rubles, you will not be able to achieve anything. The money will just be wasted.
And if you need a guaranteed result - ask the International Furniture Consulting Center to first bring your sales department up to standard - in the sales department you have a black hole for your money!

If you do not have enough budget for contextual advertising, unite. Thank God, few of the customers will go to another city for a kitchen. If you are in different cities, then you are not competitors, but potential partners. Not a single contextual advertising is alive business. Clients can be obtained from social networks. Attention and loyalty to yourself can be attracted with the help of reviews. The same contextual advertising, if it is done not for an individual customer, but for a group of customers, will cost much less. Those furniture makers with whom I talked this year, I saw very interesting promotions to increase sales. Judging by Belarus, the right actions work well. One could use for all the most effective.

In passing, I note: association on an initiative basis, when you agree to share your achievements with partners in other cities for free, does not work. I personally checked several times. You can't go against human nature. We need 1 responsible person who works not only for conscience, but also for money.
Although, this advice is a topic for a separate article. I will tell you in detail only if this article arouses interest, and there will be requests from you, dear furniture makers. Write for it.

Furniture businesses need to go online. Go immediately. You will get access to the second half of the market, which is now deprived.
It's worth it.

With respect to you and your business,
Alexander Seleznev,
Founder of the agency "Content Farm",
[email protected]

P.S. 10th of November International Furniture Recruitment Center holds webinar "Problems of small furniture business when accessing the Internet, and how to deal with them." There will be more practical information - what and how to do for you. Webinar free you just need to pre-register.

For heads of sales departments.

Attention! This free article is not part of the Uncensored Furniture Business course.

Believe me, at least 1000 interns have passed through my hands for the position of a furniture sales assistant.

Why so much? Why such staff turnover? A very rare case when a store employee "grew up" like a chick and left his father's house proud, to the delight of his "parents". Naturally, these quality people are always promoted: they create their own business, they are lured to higher positions in reputable companies, and so on. But this, we repeat, is an exception ... And we are talking about experienced sellers.

The bulk of the interns did not "survive" before certification. We have a “rule of three days”, when in the first three days of the internship we don’t even pay the “internship”, we don’t apply for a job, but at the same time we put pressure on the intern to the fullest. That is three days we look narrowly at each other. So, we admit that these three days cannot "survive" 70% of the interns, they just run away.

Conclusion? People don't want to stress.

And in a furniture store it is impossible to become a quality seller without straining ... So they run ... Well, you, Boss, if you want to work with rubbish on rubbish terms, then continue to curry favor with candidates, conduct sentimental conversations, entertain interns with stories from life, with anecdotes, instead of teaching them and forcing them to plow for the good of the store ... There is such an expression "politeness to take for weakness" ... A good expression, vital. So, this is just about interns.

In one of our previous articles, store management mistakes were described when working with interns in a furniture store. We do not consider it necessary to duplicate this description. But, believe me, these mistakes are completely commonplace. And when you list a person, the director, of his mistakes when working with interns, some even slap themselves on the forehead: “Well, I knew all this, I know, well, why do I make these mistakes again and again ?!”.

Enough about mistakes. The success of an intern, a young salesperson, depends not only on who and how much he will “tip” him during the internship period. The seller's success also depends on himself, moreover, only on himself.

Therefore, people, beginners, their bosses, those who want to work hard, study, become a professional, earn money, respect themselves ...

1 Get a notebook and write down all the suppliers there (write down the lines, collections, assortment, detailed information-presentation of the factory).

2 Make a "registry" of supplier catalogs in your notebook.

3 Learn to work with “product registers” (I don’t know what you call it - this list of goods is in stock, according to which you actually work; there is a printout from 1C, there is a notebook).

4 Learn to work with the price tag. The price tag (by law) must contain comprehensive information for both the Client and the seller (a very good cheat sheet). But! Never sell from the price tag, by the price tag. Here, as nowhere else, there is a human factor. And in furniture, a mistake of three to five centimeters can be very costly. We repeat, we “broadcast” for normal, decent stores, and not for Three A ... cooperatives, where half a meter back and forth is the norm. Therefore, sell from the “goods register”, from the price list. There should be no errors (although they do happen).

5 Learn to work with price lists.

6 Constant walk around the store, shopping salon with "remembering" what they saw.

7 You can invite one of your colleagues to play role-playing games: sell to each other, ask only open questions, trial completion of the transaction, work with a problematic (raging) Client.

This is a huge, painstaking, tedious and monotonous job! But it's worth it, and the result is amazing!

Good luck with furniture sales!

The issue of customer demand for furniture is of interest to all manufacturers, it helps to correctly form their product group and increase income. What furniture is in high demand?

Manufacturers and sellers conduct consumer market research, order such research from the relevant companies. Is it possible to determine exactly what buyers prefer? It is difficult to do this, the market is floating, the tastes and capabilities of consumers are changing. Furniture is not an essential item, many refuse to buy until better times, look for cheap options, make it themselves, and look for other solutions.

Having studied the forums where the question is asked - what kind of furniture do you prefer, you can come to the conclusion that the possibilities and desires of people do not coincide. For example, to the question: what kind of furniture will you buy: cheap or expensive, many answer that they prefer to collect the required amount and buy high-quality expensive furniture, others say that they simply cannot afford it.
Statistical studies show that most of all buyers are interested in cabinet, upholstered, children's and kitchen furniture, which is what they buy most often. They buy less and, accordingly, produce furniture for the living room. If we consider these indicators as a percentage, then the share of cabinet and upholstered furniture accounts for about 60 percent, but about 30 percent of consumers are interested in bedroom sets and kitchen furniture. Demand for children's furniture and bathroom furniture is on the rise.

What kind of furniture was produced more last year? In different regions, these figures differ significantly.
However, furniture production declined in almost all regions last year. The situation in the Moscow and Kostroma regions and the Krasnodar Territory remains relatively stable. Here the production of furniture in monetary terms showed a positive trend. Such regions as Voronezh, Vladimir, Novgorod, Kirov and Rostov regions became anti-leaders in this list - a significant reduction in production volumes was noted here.

What furniture do they buy domestic or foreign? Previously, the share of imported furniture on the market was about half, but now the situation has changed somewhat and buyers are looking for domestic furniture of acceptable quality. But, those who appreciate quality, and the price does not matter to them, remain adherents of imported furniture.
The consumer has become more careful about the choice of furniture, they especially pay attention to the quality of fittings, because its service life and comfort depend on it.

Hardware selection
When buying finished furniture products, the buyer cannot choose fittings, he is forced to trust the manufacturer, and at most he can test it for reliability empirically. There are quite a lot of manufacturers of fittings on the market - these are domestic and foreign companies. The main requirement for fittings is reliability. At the same time, both consumers and furniture factories make such requirements. After all, the low quality of the accessories used can cause great harm to the business reputation of any company. So, the products of such companies have proven themselves well:

• Hettich is a German company producing a wide range of furniture fittings. It is a frequent participant in various furniture exhibitions, there are many interesting developments that make furniture functional and comfortable.
• Blum is a well-known Austrian manufacturer. On the market for a long time, the pride of the company are modern lifting and sliding systems. Blum's new developments often win various awards in furniture fittings competitions. Innovative developments, the release of products that are needed on the market right now - allowed the company to achieve great success and win the trust of many consumers.
• AMIG - a company from Italy, produces accessories for professionals and those who appreciate quality. Why is she popular? Professionals appreciated the opportunity not to change the entire mechanism, it is enough to change individual parts if they break.
• GTV - a Polish manufacturer offers a wide range of good quality front and functional fittings at an affordable price.
• Boyard is a Russian company, popular among buyers and furniture manufacturers. Success is due to affordable price, good quality. In addition, Boyard does not stop there, constantly offers new models of fittings, for which he uses innovative developments.
• Valmaks is a Russian manufacturer of facial fittings, supplies the market with high-quality, interesting products.

Where do you buy furniture?
Production of high-quality furniture is not a guarantee of success. A well-thought-out marketing policy, the ability to correctly present your product, to interest a potential buyer is the most important component of demand formation.
Furniture, the product that is chosen after a visual inspection. But, at the same time, most buyers begin their initial acquaintance with the necessary furniture with the study of Internet offers. Therefore, the presence of a high-quality website, where prices for products, assortment, promotional offers will be indicated, is a prerequisite for successful sales. Additional success is guaranteed by the presence of representative offices of the furniture manufacturer in large cities. By the way, they often look for promotional offers, discounts on furniture, that is, many people have a desire to save money.
Internet sales without the opportunity to see the furniture cause distrust among most buyers. Experience shows that buyers are more interested in the cost of a particular model in order to find the most inexpensive option. An order is made when they have already decided on the model and found the best offer in the Internet store.

Information: info.ssd.su

Consulting managers often have a hard time, so I would like to highlight a few key points on the issue of how to properly sell furniture. We hope that this will help you in the future when communicating with customers and will help increase the level of sales. How to communicate with buyers?

First of all, you need to imagine yourself in the place of the client. Furniture is an expensive commodity, regardless of financial well-being, buying furniture is not done impulsively. Often, the very fact of purchasing furniture is a significant event or is associated with it. In this regard, customers have a lot of anxiety and doubts, because with a new acquisition they will have to live side by side for more than one year. Very often, the client needs to take into account when buying not only his opinion. There are many reasons why people buy new furniture and they are usually typical: renovation, moving to a new apartment, the birth of a child, the need for a life change.

Knowing these typical situations helps to identify the needs of the client, and you can ask a number of clarifying questions about them. Sometimes even the client himself does not think about some points, which can later be very important. And the manager, with the help of his leading questions, helps to make the right decision. It will be much more comfortable for the client to communicate with a manager who will quickly understand his desires and needs. After all, not everyone immediately clearly understands what kind of furniture they need. In addition, furniture is a product with many characteristics, so often people have superficial ideas about the design features of furniture or have high expectations about this product. You must know absolutely everything about the products and present information simply, clearly and concisely.

How to meet a buyer? This question is also very important. After all, this is the first impression about you, about the company, and we all know that people are greeted by clothes. To meet a buyer correctly means to observe his preferences, listen to what competitors offer. Be sure to say hello, this is not only a way to attract attention, because each of us would like a friendly attitude.

Offer quality products and always warn about the presence of marriage, because people can return to you. Always invite the client to study the contract so that there is no doubt about the reliability of your organization. By knowing how to properly sell furniture, you will ensure a good reputation for yourself and your company.

It is better to show the product with its “face”, if it is a sofa, then it is better to offer to sit down and lie down, point out its ergonomics and functionality. When presenting children's furniture, it is better to focus on environmentally friendly materials, to voice the characteristics of materials, to say about the strength of the frame, the absence of sharp corners. It is better to approach the issue of price when you have already discussed the advantages in terms of quality and properties of your furniture.

Be sure to smile and make eye contact. Nothing is more conducive to working with clients than a frank desire to help. We hope that these simple tips on how to communicate with customers will help you in your future work. Good luck!

An unprofessional seller who is unable to answer not only objections, but also simple customer questions about the cost, packaging and discounts on goods is a fairly common occurrence. Also, there are often overly intrusive and illiterate “specialists”, from whom, as if from a cornucopia, product characteristics are pouring in that are uninteresting to the buyer and do not meet his needs.

The main disadvantages of sales training

Furniture selling is one of the areas where employees go through a lot of training that is out of touch with the real thing and learn skills that only scare away customers. Intrusive and aggressive sales assistants make them want to refuse cooperation. The buyer needs clear answers to his questions, therefore incompetent consultants who do not understand the advantages of their product and have not studied its elementary characteristics are also unlikely to be successful in their business. The best way to get the necessary skills is through experience, studying the product and working with customers. It is also important to communicate with experienced successful employees and learn from them sales techniques using real examples.

Who should ask questions

There are many techniques for effectively selling furniture, but learning them does not guarantee the emergence of professionalism when working with people. Success depends primarily on the seller himself and his activity. It often happens that the client himself throws questions at the consultant, and he only answers, and often inappropriately. But the one who asks the questions controls the conversation. Therefore, if a consultant or furniture sales manager himself does not ask a potential buyer anything, he is unlikely to be able to make a good deal.

The situation on the market is constantly changing, so the seller does not have to wait until the client himself makes a decision to buy. Due to the wide range, constant sales, promotions and discounts, and the opportunity to purchase used furniture on free ad sites at lower prices, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a client to motivate a purchase. What can be done? What does a furniture seller need to know in order to manage his behavior himself, and not leave him alone with the goods?

Why you need an individual approach to the buyer

Today, when working with a buyer, there are no universal schemes that would be suitable for everyone and work regardless of the nature and preferences of the person. The approach to the client should be individual, and the behavior of the seller should change depending on who he communicates with. To understand how to sell furniture, at the initial stage of work, a consultant needs to study the main types of clients, sales techniques and objection handling. At present, the usual sale of a product with a story about its benefits is ineffective, the seller should learn

Customer focus: basic steps

The customer-centric approach consists of several steps, which must be performed sequentially, one after the other:

1. Training.
2. Making contact with the client.
3. Identification of his needs.
4. Product presentation.
5. Work with objections.
6. Deal.

The first step is preparation. It consists of the following items:

1. Product knowledge.
2. Customer insight.
3. Studying competitors.
4. Appearance.
5. Sales skills.
6. Planning.
7. Appearance.

The basic principle of customer-oriented sales is: "Don't sell a product to a customer, but help him buy it." To do this, you need to understand the desires of the client and be able to put yourself in his place. But how to do it and learn how to help the client with the choice of the product he needs?

The Importance of Product Research

A seller who wants to figure out how to learn how to sell furniture, first of all, must thoroughly study the product with which he works. It is important that the consultant could answer any question about him immediately, without hesitation and without asking anyone again.

The most common questions from customers when buying furniture:

1. Complete set - what items are included in the price, and what needs to be bought separately. For example, is a mirror included in the cost of the hallway.
2. Color scheme - the furniture is chosen for the interior, so it is important for the client to know if a suitable shade is available and, if not, whether it can be ordered.
3. Manufacturer - most people prefer well-known companies that they have heard a lot about and can trust, as well as domestic brands. If the firm is unknown, they want to know more about it.
4. Possibility of additional configuration - is it possible to add or change something in the furniture set. Sofas, for example, may have a variety of covers that the customer is willing to purchase in the future if their color scheme changes.

Discounts as motivation to buy

When making a purchasing decision, the cost of a product is not as important as it might seem. According to marketing research, the average buyer is able to change his mind about the acceptable cost of goods up to + 20%. The cost is always on the same scale with the goods, and the seller's task is to make these scales swing in the right direction. But the client must clearly understand why he should pay more in this particular case.

Discounts are of last interest to customers, since most of the promotions can be repeated in other stores, so they have ceased to be an advantage. But they can serve as an additional motivation when buying, if all other factors, except for the cost, are satisfactory. Having studied the product, the seller needs to learn how to find out the needs of his client and become familiar with the basic sales techniques in order to learn how to plan communication with potential buyers. Next, you need to study what similar positions competitors offer and how they work with buyers.

Dress code for a furniture sales assistant

At the next stage, even if the organization does not have a dress code or corporate uniform, the consultant himself must bring his appearance in line with the standards of business attire. When entering the store, the client should immediately understand that he is facing a specialist who can be contacted with a question, and not the same potential buyer as himself. As a representative of the company, the seller must look appropriate and stand out, inspiring the trust of the client with his appearance. furniture, if you yourself look unpresentable at the same time? Business style in clothes makes you feel more confident and more comfortable.

How to get in touch with a client

Working with a client begins with a greeting. Here it is very important to choose the right form for it and not to use hackneyed phrases that make everyone nervous, for example: “Do you have anything to suggest?”, “Have you already chosen?”, “Is there anything to help you with?” etc. At best, the buyer will laugh it off, but more often than not, such greetings cause everyone negative emotions and a desire to respond in a rude manner and leave the store. For typical questions, the client will always find a typical answer that does not encourage the continuation of the conversation.

"Hot" and "cold" clients

According to one theory, out of the total number of people, those who are ready to make a purchase right now will be no more than 5-10%. Such clients are called "hot". Trivial questions will make them immediately decide not in favor of the seller who asks them, and look for someone more professional. Doubting customers who want to buy, but have not yet decided on the desired characteristics of the product or its cost, will make up about 25%.

The rest of the people are “cold” customers who either wander aimlessly around the stores or are simply not ready to make a purchase right now. A separate question is how to sell furniture over the Internet, when the client simply views the offers, and does not communicate directly with the seller. Thus, most potential buyers are “cold”, but they are able to bring maximum profit to the store with the correct work of the sales assistant. Therefore, if they are asked a question to force them to make a purchase decision that they are not ready for, this will only scare them off and seem like pressure to customers.

How to greet a customer

The seller, addressing the client, must first of all greet him and introduce himself. Next, experienced salespeople can act in different ways, for example, not to offer help in choosing right now, but to inform the client that they can be contacted with questions about the product. Sometimes consultants continue to obsessively follow the client on the heels and tell him about the characteristics of the product without waiting for questions. But in this case, the potential buyer will still not remember most of the information, and the sensations from communication will be unpleasant for him. People prefer to buy, but they don't like to feel like they're being sold. Even customers who are ready to make a purchase are likely to leave the store without listening to the seller. Excessive intrusiveness and information flows make you feel obligated to buy something, which causes discomfort. A conversation with a client should be a dialogue, not a monologue of one of the parties.

Identification of customer needs

Before selling furniture, the seller must find out the purpose of the client's arrival and in no case leave him unattended. Friendly communication without pressure and negativity is the optimal behavior strategy. Unfortunately, very often, before selling furniture, sellers, instead of revealing the values ​​of the buyer, begin a thoughtless presentation of the product or begin to dryly list technical characteristics. Efficiency and obsession are two different things. The client should feel comfortable and be able to walk around the store without the close attention of the seller. It is important to use an individual approach, speak the language of a potential buyer and talk about what is relevant to him. The conversation should be about the client, their goals and needs. With a negative attitude, the seller needs to back off.

How to ask the right questions

When working with a client, it is important to ask him the right questions. They can be of two types - open and closed. In the first case, a detailed answer will be required from the buyer, and in the second, confirmation or disagreement. Both options help to identify the needs of the client and are one of the important components of the sales technique. For example, before selling antique furniture, you can ask about what antiques the client already has. This will allow you to suggest an option that will be combined with them.

Clients with high incomes prefer products created in a single copy. The identification of such a desire will be one of the answers to the question of how to sell handmade furniture. If the client answers a question with a question, the consultant can give a short presentation and talk about the benefits of the product, moving from the general to the specific. Then you need to take the initiative again and ask an open-ended question. When a salesperson knows how to ask questions and uses this skill effectively, he can quickly find common ground with buyers and respond to their needs. If you show initiative and activity, then there will be no problems and questions about how to sell furniture.

Product presentation

Product presentation is an important part of sales technique. Having identified several needs of the client, you can move on to it, or you can first find out the details. Only laudatory reviews about the product cause distrust of the buyer. Before selling upholstered furniture, the seller needs to look at it through the eyes of his client and find out what questions he may have. A need-based presentation, not a feature-based one, generates more customer engagement. Talking about new furniture, used furniture or just a project should be in a certain sequence. First, its properties are described, obvious characteristics that do not raise questions from the client.

How to describe the benefits of a product

Before selling cabinet furniture or another product, the consultant needs to carefully study both their and non-obvious characteristics or advantages that distinguish the product from others. At the end of the presentation, the seller should talk about the benefits that the client will receive if he purchases this particular furniture. The properties of the product tell the buyer what exactly he is buying, the benefits - why he does it, and the benefits - what he gets as a result of the purchase. It is important not to forget that the customer is looking for a product that can solve his problem. The seller only needs help in solving this problem.

In this case, Maslow's pyramid and focus on the needs of the buyer can help. For example, before selling old furniture, among its characteristics one can mention the natural materials from which it is made. This will satisfy the client's basic need for security.

Work with objections

A common mistake sellers make is arguing with customers instead of getting to the bottom of their objections. But the real work of a professional begins when the customer says, “No.” In order to understand how to quickly sell furniture, the consultant must understand how to deal with objections and not be afraid of them. After listening to them, it is worth thanking the client and giving additional arguments in favor of buying your product. If you use Maslow's pyramid again, then it is worth considering that when working on this system with a complex client, you need to transfer him to a level with higher needs. This will allow you to sell furniture more expensive. For example, from the basic need for safety and health, switch his attention to the need for belonging. If the client is not particularly concerned about his own safety, he will definitely think about the safety of his loved ones.

Make a deal

The final stage of the work of any seller is the conclusion of the transaction. At this time, you need to act decisively and not overdo it, repelling the desire of the buyer to purchase the product. Completion of the sale and payment is an important moment when you can’t make mistakes. The seller should pay attention to the client's signals about the readiness to make a purchase, stop the presentation in time and take him to the checkout. After confirming the order amount, you can offer additional products and services, such as an additional guarantee. It's also important to get the paperwork right. Then the seller should thank the client for the choice and spend it with a friendly goodbye.

If the customer is not ready to buy now

Another common mistake made by unprofessional salespeople is to lose interest in a client if they are not ready to make a deal right away. At this point, you can lose not only the future reward for work from one person. Offended by an inattentive attitude, the buyer will definitely use word of mouth and share his dissatisfaction with relatives and friends who are unlikely to decide to purchase something in this store. Thus, the seller loses several potential customers at once. A professional will definitely give you time to think, tell you about additional discounts and bonuses in the future, so that the buyer leaves with pleasant impressions and returns again some time later. You can ask the client for a phone number and offer to call him back later if a better offer appears. For an effective sale, the main thing is to do everything right, to solve the client's problem. Then he will definitely come back again and recommend the store to his friends.